Chapter 217
The Qingxuan Daoist was quite a character. As a master, he was utterly unqualified, not even aware of his own disciple's movements.
Mu Baishuang was a transformation-stage demon cultivator, so it was entirely possible for her to manipulate Lu Changtian within the secret realm using demonic techniques from outside.
In that case...
"Celestial Mechanism, help me locate Mu Baishuang's true body!"
[Calculating Celestial Mechanism...]
The winds of change swept through the Cangyun Realm, but this time, no golden vertical pupils appeared.
Clearly, the target's strength and background were insufficient to warrant the full power of the Celestial Mechanism.
[Calculation complete; target location displayed on the map!]
Chen Huai'an glanced at the map, stepped onto the Shengxuan, and shot into the sky.
...
"Li Qingran, your master is strong, and so are you."
"Your master is strong enough to easily kill the young master, and now..." Mu Baishuang picked up the sword of Yun Zimo lying at her feet and pointed it at Li Qingran. "I’m at the late stage of the Golden Core, and you’re at the early stage. Even if you have a magical artifact that can restore your spiritual energy, what does it matter? One strike from me, and you won’t even have the chance to recover!"
"Indeed, it was you behind the schemes at Chixiao Peak."
Li Qingran glared coldly at Mu Baishuang.
She had long suspected Mu Baishuang but lacked evidence, compounded by Mu Baishuang's knack for disguise and the drastic changes in her four senior brothers' personalities.
She hadn’t even had the chance to gather evidence.
Fortunately, her master had already pulled her out of the mire at Chixiao Peak of the Qingyun Sect.
She no longer wanted to waste energy pondering why her four brothers had changed so drastically.
A late-stage Golden Core opponent was tough to deal with, but it wasn’t without its opportunities.
She didn’t seek to kill her opponent; she only needed to buy time. As long as the secret realm opened and her master came to her aid, she could survive.
Mu Baishuang neither confirmed nor denied it.
"Enough of your nonsense; it’s time to send you on your way!"
She had already devised how to kill Li Qingran.
Li Qingran's swordplay was elusive and unpredictable.
Mu Baishuang planned to use the Celestial Demon Cage to confine Li Qingran to a specific area, then create illusions to distract her. After that, she would use the Celestial Demon Step to stealthily teleport behind Li Qingran and pierce her heart with a single strike! She could almost envision the scene of blood splattering.
Pfft—!
Mu Baishuang's pupils suddenly constricted, a line of crimson sliding from the corner of her lips.
She slowly and mechanically lowered her neck, only to see a shadow of a sword burst from her chest, the chilling sword energy penetrating her body and surging toward her crown.
Mu Baishuang froze. Had someone attacked her from behind?
No, that wasn’t right.
She was a manifestation using the Celestial Demon Technique to seize Lu Changtian's body; all the pain was borne by Lu Changtian.
This was the tyrannical nature of the Celestial Demon Technique— even if Lu Changtian were killed, her true body would suffer no loss.
So...
This pain came from outside the secret realm.
Her true body!
The manifestation dissipated in an instant, and another suppressed consciousness awakened within the shattered body.
Lu Changtian's knee slammed heavily into the ground, his hands pressed against his chest, unable to stem the blood that gushed forth.
The sword intent ravaged his wound, tearing his organs and meridians to shreds in an instant.
A sound like silver bells echoed in his ears.
He lifted his head slightly and saw Li Qingran approaching quickly, her skirt fluttering among the grass, the silver bells on her ankles jingling merrily.
His gaze rose to meet her beautiful face.
"Help... help me..."
"I'm so... sorry, cough cough..."
However, the girl merely brushed past him, leaving a waft of fragrant air in her wake.
"Master!"
He heard the girl's jubilant voice behind him.
When had Li Qingran ever called him 'senior brother' in that same tone?
He knelt there, the last flicker of light in his eyes fading, his soul shattered along with the sword intent.
...
Behind Lu Changtian stood a shadow of a sword cultivator in dark robes, holding a black-scaled sword, making a motion to sheathe it.
Li Qingran recognized that shadow as her master.
Yet, the shadow showed no response to her call.
Connecting it to Lu Changtian's strange behavior moments ago and Mu Baishuang's self-detonation, she began to suspect that her master had found Mu Baishuang's true body.
Otherwise, Mu Baishuang couldn't have detached from Lu Changtian so quickly.
"Master saved me once again..."
Li Qingran watched as the shadow of the sword cultivator faded, warmth blooming in her heart.
"Cough cough cough... Damn it, this hurts like hell..."
Suddenly, a wail came from the nearby grass.
Li Qingran snapped out of her daze.
"Oh no, I forgot about that demon cultivator girl!"
She slapped her forehead and hurriedly searched through the grass.
In the chaos of encountering Lu Changtian and the others, she had no choice but to toss that girl into the grass.
Moreover, to prevent her from being accidentally harmed, she had thrown her quite far.
...
...
------------
Chapter 233: The Secret Realm Opens (Mu Yuqing's Words +1)
Deep within the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, near the remnants of the demonic formation.
Mu Baishuang knelt in a pool of blood as Chen Huai'an slowly sheathed his sword.
"Cough cough... Sword Pavilion Ancestor? How did you find me..."
To avoid detection, she had made thorough preparations, setting up five layers of concealment formations around her. Now, looking up, she saw that the formation had been shattered by a single sword strike, remnants of sword intent still lingering on the broken core.
"Finding you was quite simple, wasn’t it? Just a casual calculation with the Celestial Mechanism. Did you think you were Lingpu, that old hag?"
Mu Baishuang's pupils constricted sharply as she stared at Chen Huai'an in disbelief. "Lingpu... you killed her?"
"Yes," Chen Huai'an nodded. "An old dog, easily dispatched."
Mu Baishuang was momentarily stunned. She knew Lingpu was dead.
During the previous battle deep in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, her cultivation was too low to even dare to take a look.
All she knew was that after the battle, Lingpu's aura had completely vanished.
Only a faint remnant of sword intent lingered in the air, and she had thought Lingpu might have been killed by a great sword cultivator from the Zhenwu Sacred Land.
Now she knew the truth.
What cultivation level was Chen Huai'an, then?
The aura emanating from him was merely that of a perfected transformation stage...
So that was it, a cunning old fox hiding his true strength.
No wonder the formation couldn’t withstand a single sword strike from him, and no wonder he had shown no resistance.
How foolish she had been to think she could take advantage of the chaos when the secret realm opened...
"Do you have anything else to say?" Chen Huai'an asked, looking at Mu Baishuang, whose vitality was gradually fading.
That last sword had already pierced Mu Baishuang's heart, the sword intent shredding her meridians and organs.
On the surface, it seemed like just a single sword wound, but inside, it was completely ruined.
This sword intent was derived from the tenth style of the Qinglian Sword Classic—Moonrise over Tianshan.
For someone with a modern mindset like him, it was easy to understand; in simple terms, it was like a shotgun.
"Sword Pavilion Ancestor? Heh heh heh... don’t get too smug," Mu Baishuang spat blood, her bloodied fingertips digging deep into the mud, each word dripping with coldness. "Even if you have transcendent cultivation, what does it matter?"
"In their eyes... you are merely a... pawn..."
The last two words froze in her dilating pupils.
She collapsed forward into the pool of blood, her hands reaching for the shattered stele of the Celestial Demon Young Master, but she ultimately could not touch it.
"A pawn, you say?" Chen Huai'an mulled over Mu Baishuang's words.
The scenario of the cultivation world treating all beings as pawns was indeed not uncommon.
But even pawns could leap off the board, even overturn it.
"I want to see who dares to make me a pawn," Chen Huai'an scoffed, flicking his sleeve to unleash a sword energy that severed the surrounding ruins. He soared into the sky on his sword, the rocks behind him crumbling, effectively giving Mu Baishuang and the Celestial Demon Young Master a grave.
[Acquired Demonic Cultivator Fragment X1, Soul-Devouring Gu - Sub Gu X1]
Chen Huai'an returned to the Shengxuan, sitting down. In just fifteen minutes, the gate to the small secret realm would open.
<15> 5:45 AM: Li Qingran returns to the Sword Pavilion's main force, heading to the entrance of the small secret realm.
She found an excuse to leave the Sword Pavilion's main force, waiting alone with the demon cultivator girl near the small secret realm.
Thinking of her master.
...
"Good, you know how to avoid trouble for the Sword Pavilion."
Chen Huai'an nodded repeatedly as he read this log entry.
Table of Contents
